Recommendations for Car Hire

We've been using Luz Cars for many years now and have had no problems. Any other strong recommendations? We tried Europcar once this year - never again.

 

Thanks - never heard of that one. Full to empty? Do you mean they start with a full tank of fuel and you are expected to empty it? With Luz Cars it's done on trust and you leave the tank in the same state as you got it.

 

Back to using Autorent - [reservas@autorent.pt]
No fuss no pre-payment just collect and pay on arrival in Car Park 4.
500 Euros for 3 weeks hire (small car) with Spain and CDW etc.

 

Over the past 2 years we have been using Economy Car Hire (www.economycarhire.com). They are UK based and deal with a number of car hire firms in Faro. We last used them for 25 days in June which cost £379 including £50 optional (additional) insurance for a Renault Clio. They require you to leave the same amount of fuel in the tank as when you collect the car.

 

We've used Zit Autos since 2008 and always received good service, cash on arrival and no problems.

 

Over the last 25 years I have always looked for the cheapest deal. Currently I use the "Trawler site" Enjoy Carhire.
This searches all the carhire companies (Not the expensive Europe wide ones) and offers the best deals for the period you specify. You can check that your selection is not the pickup full tank , return empty, and add on any extras you require. You pay a small deposit on booking, the rest at the P4 kiosk. There is also a UK phone number that you can ring if you need to change something, which I had to do at Easter when I needed a car next day. They also have promotions when they give 5% off and they e-mail you to tell you when these are happening. You get cars from a selection of companies that operate out of the P4 kiosk. I also have an annual policy with Insurance4carhire to cover the daily excess (£49) but (touch wood) I have never had to use it.

 

I have used luzcar.com for the last 6/8 years 3 or 4 times a year and they have always been competitive and reliabale. This September I need a car for 5 weeks so I looked around and asked various places for discounts in view of the length of hire and most companies were prepared to lower their charges. I then went back to luzcar and told them of the lowest price I had found and who it was with and they matched it. After all business is business!

 

We have used Algarve Driver based on CVO website for over ten years with no problems and competitive rates.Pay when you collect as well.

 

We've used Zitautos for a number of years and the service has been exemplary. When my wife was hospitalized in 2007, they allowed me an open-ended extension of the hire period. Another year when she came out for a break with some old school friends, their car was broken into in Feragudo, and the locks damaged. Zitautos were fine about it, and replaced the car immediately. Not only was there no charge for the damage, but when the car was returned at P4 they gave her a partial refund because the replacement car was in a lower group. Their fuel procedure is that you return the car with the same amount of fuel as when you picked it up. Only once has the car been so low as to need an immediate fill-up.

 

Many useful recommendations based on good experiences already. After trying several different companies over the years we would endorse completely what Peter Renouf has said in his 1 August post. Enjoy Car Hire based in Norfolk have been used for our last two trips with two different local companies supplying the cars (Kings and Best Deal) - both excellent but older cars (2010); well maintained with Aircon. June visit (16 days)(Ford Fiesta) for 203€ and latest (Sept.) trip (15 days)(Seat Ibiza) for 230€. We too use the Insurance4Car Hire company that Peter referred to but their rate has now gone down to £39.

 

Well that's very helpful Peter and I am pleased I started the thread because it looks as though our regular source is quite a bit more than those other companies. Time for a change methinks.

 

Have been using Zitauto for past 5 years with no problem cars clean and tidy polite reps, normally meet agent near coffee shop but this year we had to go straight to the car park find their van and fill out the paperwork. I understand from the rep that they are no longer allowed to operate from inside the arrivals hall. I did try Enjoy last summer the state of repair was poor there was extra charges for second driver and collection after 7pm at night, this year I went back to Zitautos.

 

Try Auto Europe comparison web site

 

I use amoita... Also a p4 company. And you can split the hire so over say three weeks you can have car at the start from the airport for a few days and then at the end for a few days to go back to the airport ....and they collect from RB in the middle and then bring it back again. For a fee but very reasonable.

 

This time I've booked by my Finnair account (and I've got 660 extra points) and had 17 day rent November 20 to December 7 for € 62.81. I do not pay for extra insurance as it is included in the price. Earlier I'v used economycarrentals and Argushire.com. Usually very cheap. I checked with Luz (http://www.lagoscarhire.com/ ) and they offered a group A car for € 315.80 ???